Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Don't show me this message again

Apparitions, S155

Introduction

Along with the early Harmonies poétiques et religieuses and the first book of the Album d’un voyageur, Apparitions stake Liszt’s earliest claim to be regarded as a mature and original musical thinker—he was 22 years old at the time of their composition. Although it is quite clear that only a very few of his contemporaries had the slightest understanding of his intentions, and generally preferred his early studies and transcriptions, it is these other extraordinarily avant garde works which forced the doubters to reconsider, and which, along with the re-examination of the late pieces, led to the re-appraisal of Liszt in the middle of the twentieth century. The first piece has a rhythmic flexibility which often suspends the perceived metre altogether, and the theme in thirds with tremolo accompaniment is one of Liszt’s most compelling. The second is uneasily torn between being carefree and poignant, again the character led by the unusual rhythm, and the third is almost like a composer under some hallucinogenic drug, dreaming of a Schubert waltz—a unique contribution to the literature, and quite unlike the later use of the same waltz in the Soirées de Vienne.

Recordings

'These clearly recorded discs should find a place in every music library in the land!' (Gramophone)'Another abundant, revelatory, superb instalment in what is looming as perhaps the most adventurous, most consistently realized, and grandest project ...» More

Leslie Howard’s recordings of Liszt’s complete piano music, on 99 CDs, is one of the monumental achievements in the history of recorded music. Remarkable as much for its musicological research and scholarly rigour as for Howard’s Herculean piano p ...» More

'The virtuosity with which all this is despatched is exceptional' (BBC Record Review)'There are few living pianists who can match him in dexterity, power and daring. For heart-thumping virtuosity Hamelin is in a class of his own' (Clas ...» More

Apparition in F sharp major, the first of three pieces under this title, was written in Brittany in 1834 when Liszt was staying with Lammenais, an influential priest, political agitator and author who had broken away from the Church after advocating its separation from matters of state. In his definitive study of Liszt, Alan Walker is surely right to see in these pieces the beginnings of authentic compositional potential and of a desire to be taken seriously on that basis. The key of F sharp major held a mystical significance for Liszt and this remarkable music anticipates the manner and style of the later Petrarch sonnet ‘settings’ for solo piano (related to actual vocal settings).